Rail-joint for railways



(No Model,)

J. L. KIMBALL.

RAIL JOINT FOR RAILWAYS.

Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

JAMES L. KIMBAIJL, OF NEW LONDON, MISSOURI.

RAl L JOiNT FOR RAi LWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 31%,686, dated lVIareh 31, 1885.

Application filed August 29, 1884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it ntay concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES L. KIMBALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New London, in the county of Balls and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in ItaitJoints for Railways; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to rail-joints requiring no holes to be formed in the rails for purposes of attachment, and its object is to simplify the construction of such joints without impairing their efficiency. On each side of the two rails to be spliced I lit a metal plate so bent that it conforms to the rail from the under side of the tread to nearly the edge of the foot, but is set off a little; from the angle of the foot to give it a springy motion. At intervals suificiently wide to clear the tics, I form flat projections upon the plate, and these I bend in the manner shown in the drawings. The first bend of each projection is received into a recess made in the edge of the railioot, so that the jointed rails may not fall apart endwise. Bolts tightened by screw-nuts are inserted in the top bends of each pair of projections beneath the rail, and the obvious result of tightening the nuts is to press the top edge of the splice-plate the more firmly against the under side of the tread, while at the same time the lateral pressure against thebolt-heads and nuts tends to keep the bolts from loosen ing in the annoying manner so common to unlocked nuts.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like letters represent like parts, Figure l is a side elevation of a pair of jointed rails with one projection sufficiently broken away to show the recess into which it fits, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a spliced rail.

A A are the rails to be jointed. a is one of the recesses in the flanges of the same. B B are the splice-plates. b b are the bent projections. G O are the screw-bolts. and c c are the nuts, all as hereinbefore described.

I prefer to make the splice-plates of such length and the projections at such intervals apart as will enable me to have a projection near each end of the plate and one in the center where the rails meet endwise, thus giving me three pairs of clamps, and so distributed as to alford the greatest attainable efficiency. \Vhere but two sets of projections are used the ends of thejoined rails rest, of course, on a tie.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to be new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

The combination, in a railway-rail joint, of the rails A, having recesses a, with the plates B, having projections b, and the bolts 0, having nuts 0, in the manner hereinbefore de-.

scribed, whereby the adjacent ends of said rails are held in line and contact, and the loosening of said nuts upon said bolts is diminished or avoided, as above set forth.

In testimony whereof I a'ffix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES L. KIMBALL.

Iiiitnesses:

G. S. LAKE, A. D. BELL. 

